Arson now second leading cause of fires in Fiji

Arson has overtaken unattended cooking to become the second leading cause of fires in Fiji, the National Fire Authority has revealed.

NFA chief executive officer Puamau Sowane said electrical faults remained the top cause of fires, but the rise of arson — the deliberate setting of fires — was a growing concern.

"The arson has now taken the second place and unattended cooking has dropped to third place," Mr Sowane said. "Those are the three major causes of fires in Fiji as we speak."

He also warned that the number of fires recorded since January had risen sharply compared to the same period last year, though he did not have the exact figures on hand.

"There is a significant increase of fires from January till now in comparison to last year," Mr Sowane said. "That is a big concern to the National Fire Authority."

He said the NFA had been working closely with awareness officers to educate the public on fire safety, but the message was not getting through.

"The message doesn't seem to be sinking well to members of the public on fire safety."

Mr Sowane said children and the elderly were the most at risk in any fire and urged all Fijians to take greater care of their homes and families.

The warning comes as a parliamentary committee review of NFA also found fires outside municipal boundaries — areas beyond towns and cities — were on the rise, with electrical faults consistently leading as the main cause over the past five years.